Dolphin Tale★★★

(HBO on Comcast) An excellent family film that lightly fictionalizes the tale of Winter, the wounded Florida dolphin with a prosthetic tail. Nathan Gamble plays the boy who befriends her, and Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr., and Morgan Freeman play the nearby adults. Winter plays herself, winningly. (PG; runs through Aug. 31)

Ty Burr

Beasts of the Southern Wild★★★★

(HBO on Comcast) Benh Zeitlin’s astonishing first feature is a magical-realist fable that’s set in a small Louisiana community at the time of Hurricane Katrina but that plays like a primeval foundation myth. As the 6-year-old protagonist, Quvenzhané Wallis gives a performance that grows in majesty over the course of the film. (PG-13; runs through Sept. 2)

Ty Burr

Snow White and the Huntsman ★★½

(HBO on Comcast) Entertainingly schizophrenic, this re-engineering of the classic fairy tale feels like it was made from pieces of every fantasy-action movie ever made. It barely holds together but there are daft pleasures, from Charlize Theron’s rampant overacting as the evil queen to Kristen Stewart’s surprising underplaying as Snow. Directed by Rupert Sanders. (PG-13; runs through Sept. 2)